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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 13, 2026

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Apropos of England vs Argentina, I absolutely called it: https://www.themotte.org/post/3822/culture-war-roundup-for-the-week/458055?context=8#context

Wouldn't be England if they didn't first give us hope only to lose in the worst possible way and to the worst possible team to lose to.

I am British living in England, and support England, so I feel the pain, although I can acknowledge that we deserved to lose this one. (So did Argentina in the first half).

But I can at least be aware that England were in a World Cup semi-final. For the second time in eight years. And that is a stunning achievement. In 1990 everyone knew this - even after going out on penalties to West Germany, the team that made the semi-final were hailed as heroes. But English fans are more susceptible to entitlement that any other country except Brazil, and now we have far too many people thinking we deserve to win the World Cup and anything less is a disappointment that the manager should be blamed for.

I'm still dreaming, but I think the 60 years of hurt are basically over now. If England had played their best and the opposition had not, we would have won the World Cup. But the opposite was what happened in the second half of yesterday's game.

and to the worst possible team to lose to.

Explain please - what is the hate towards Argentina? I have seen it all around the social media, but no justification.

They did bloody well, though. I though they were going to get pasted but they held on till the 80 minute mark.